Not applicable.
Not applicable.
The invention relates to an apparatus for dispensing a product capable of flowing out of a bag, particularly liquid soap and the like.
A dispensing device for dispensing liquid substance from a pouch is known from PCT WO 95/23546. Portions of the liquid substance are pressed out of the bag, which contains a supply chamber and an apportioning chamber, which are connected to one another by a passage. The discharge passage is of self-sealing design and is opened by an inwardly directed pressure which is exerted by a pivotably mounted plate when a pressure-exerting element is pressed onto the apportioning chamber by means of a lever. In this design, there are pivotable supporting plates for the apportioning chamber which are supported resiliently on the housing rear wall, and there is a hand-actuated angle lever as pressure-exerting element in order to press onto the apportioning chamber and squeeze out the liquid substance or free-flowing product through the discharge passage. It is not so easy to make a functioning self-sealing discharge passage in a bag. Furthermore, spring supported leverage in a dispensing apparatus is liable to break down.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a simplified design of the dispensing apparatus.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a dispensing apparatus which does not require a self-sealing outlet passage.
Use is made of a bag with product capable of flowing, which may be, for example, washing lotions, in particular having antimicrobial properties, care lotions and disinfectants. The product bag comprises two sheets which have an upside-down bottle- or pear-shaped outline and are welded to one another at their borders and over surface areas. There are formed in this case a top surface-area fastening strip with two snap fasteners, two central surface-area constricting locations for forming a through-passage between a top supply chamber and a bottom apportioning chamber, and two bottom surface-area constricting locations for forming an outlet or discharge passage. The bag is distinguished in that the bottom constricting locations have approximately rhomboidal surface areas, the larger base side of the rhombus being located on the outside of the bag and the smaller base side being adjacent to the outlet passage. The oblique sides of the rhombus lead in a funnel-shaped manner in the direction of the outlet passage. The bottom surface-area constricting locations, moreover, have snap fasteners for fastening the bag on an abutment wall of the dispensing apparatus.
The dispensing apparatus itself contains a squeezing device, which is formed by the abutment wall and hand-actuated pressure-exerting members. These hand-actuated pressure-exerting members contain a hand lever, which is mounted such that it can be pivoted about a first axis, and a pressure-exerting pivoting member, which is mounted about a second axis. The pressure-exerting pivoting member is arranged in a pivotable manner at a predetermined distance from the abutment wall, a wedge-shaped interspace being formed in the process. In the starting position, the wedge is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, with the result that the bag, which hangs with its apportioning chamber in the wedge-shaped interspace, is kept closed in the bottom region at the outlet opening by the wedge narrowing.
Upon actuation of the band lever, the pressure-exerting pivoting member is displaced such that the conditions at the wedge-shaped interspace reverse: the top end of the interspace tapers in a wedge-shaped manner and the bottom end widens in a funnel-like manner. By virtue of this operation, the quantity of product enclosed in the apportioning chamber is squeezed out of the outlet opening.
When the hand lever is released, the conditions reverse again, that is to say the interspace between the pressure-exerting pivoting member and abutment wall once again takes on a downwardly tapering shape, as a result of which the outlet is closed and the free-flowing product flows down thereafter from the supply region into the apportioning region.